InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Wash this!"

James C. Potter (stagswagger) wrote in loremrpg,
@ 2011-04-17 22:48:00

Entry tags:

!complete, !incomplete, james potter, peter pettigrew, remus lupin, severus snape, sirius black

Characters: The Marauders & Severus Snape
Setting: Sunday, October 17 at Sundown; the Whomping Willow & Shrieking Shack
Content: NSFW (violence!)
Summary: James is completely oblivious to the game Sirius is playing with Severus, and it doesn't end well.
Status: Incomplete

A romp about the forest on the night of the full moon was long overdue. James had experienced his fill of drama for the weekend, first with the loss to Ravenclaw Saturday afternoon, and then followed by a tense encounter with his ex-girlfriend Lily Evans. That phrase took a while to stick, and frankly it wasn't one he could bring himself to swallow: 'ex-girlfriend.' And to think the entire thing was his fault, as was the match result for that matter. James was beyond convinced he could have beaten Gilderoy to the snitch if only he had made a point to lurk around the git as opposed to flying off on his own. There was no way to truly know, of course, but the boy had himself sold on that opinion nevertheless. It could have had something to do with that rather remarkable necklace Lily had given him just prior to the game. James knew well enough Celtic knots served as a form of good luck charm. Even though Gryffindor had lost the match Saturday, James still felt something good had come out of it. Lily wouldn't have felt inclined to visit him that evening if he had won and was in an impeccable mood. In its own way, that little trinket served its purpose. James refused to take it off for that reason, so when it came time to transfigure into his animagus form, a diamond patch of discolored fur remained on his stag.

He emerged from the edge of the forest in his stag form after roughly an hour of wandering about on his own, cantering toward the Whomping Willow. He knew better than to get within reach of the branches, for the tree wouldn't distinguish between human or animal. Anything that moved was fair game, and he had little need to travel into the tunnel that remained beneath that evening. They learned the night of the last full moon a stag could not make due in the Shrieking Shack, let alone retreating through the tunnel. His rack was far too large for such things. This time around Sirius and Peter would go in ahead of him, meeting Remus and luring him out after his werewolf form had taken place. Then the group would follow James off into the forest. One animal could hold a werewolf's attention, but three for that matter were damn near impossible to ignore.

James tried to consider what Remus was doing at that given point in time, likely already cooped up in the shack as he anxiously awaited the inevitable. Sometimes James failed to see that the evening didn't always mean fun and games for all the Marauders. After all, Moony's transformation usually meant a dulling of his human senses and even potential hazard to anyone he encountered. James, Sirius, and Peter didn't have to worry about such things. The thought managed to distract James from pretending to graze in the nearby grass, but it was a matter of seconds before another noise caught his attention. The stag lifted his head with both ears erect, eyes shifting to the direction of the noise. He expected to find Sirius or Peter popping out at any minute, but his heightened sense of smell told him otherwise. Whoever it was, they didn't carry the usual scent of anyone from his pack. Prongs gave a flick of his tail as he backed away slightly, but just when he was about to make a dart for the trees as would any typical stag in such a situation, he saw Sirius and Peter make their way toward the tree. James tried as he might to catch Sirius' attention, to utilize the Legilimency they had been practicing for such occasions as this. Unfortunately he couldn't seem to break through his best mate's mind. Shifting his head back in the direction of the strange scent again, James darted for the wood where he planned to watch from afar. He had no clue what was happening, but hoped upon hope the stranger would carry along on his own without any help from him. Even moreso, he hoped the individual wouldn't catch his friends in the act of slipping into the hidden tunnel. James didn't need anything else to threaten his potentially enjoyable evening out and about with the pack.

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stagswagger
2011-04-25 08:53 pm UTC (link)

"Wormtail is the least of your worries right now, Snivellus. Move it!" James urged, keeping on his enemy's heels as they approached the exit. When Severus hesitated, James looked over his shoulder again to attempt to gauge how much time they had. Moony was hot on their trail, but something had managed to cause him to hesitate. James tried to break through Sirius' mind, but the stress of the moment made some complications. Squeezing his eyes shut briefly as if willing his best mate to stay safe, James redirected his attention back to Snape. Moony's howls were becoming more frustrated, almost pained, by whatever was holding him back.

"Didn't he hit the knot?" James blurted it out before realizing that would sound absolutely ludicrous to Severus. A rat obeying commands... who'd ever heard of such a thing?! Letting out a huff in frustration, James crept past Severus and slipped his non-dominant hand through the hole under the willow. On cue, the tree started shifting around in an agitated manner, but luckily it only scraped his arm in an attempt to get James to stop poking around the roots. Retracting his hand sharply as the open wound began to bleed, James turned back to Severus. "I'm going," he declared, not allowing Severus time to react. He knew arguing about it wasn't going to solve anything, and perhaps if nothing else he could distract the Whomping Willow from Severus. James crawled out from under the roots, and immediately the tree began flailing all the more. He spun around to face the entrance to the tunnel, pulling out his wand to cast a hex at the roots. Once they retracted, Severus would have more room to dart out faster.

Unfortunately James' plan worked far too well, and the tree did take him as the bait. He saw the branch coming down on him, but didn't have time to move out of its way. Perhaps it was guilt, perhaps it was karma. Whatever it was, his wand was successfully shattered by the blow. James clung to the branch with his good arm, hoping to drop off next time it got closer to the ground. The tree had other plans for him though, and once it had reached the extent of its height, the tree shook violently in an effort to send him crashing back to the ground. The impact of his fall knocked James unconscious and left him at the mercy of the tree.

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potions_hbp
2011-04-28 09:32 pm UTC (link)

Wormtail? The rat has a name? And Potter trained it to hit the knot in the tree? This is is too fucking bizarre. We need to get the hell out of here

Severus pressed himself against the wall of the tunnel as James skirted past him and looked on as he slipped an arm out of the tunnel entrance. Sure enough, the tree thwapped James' arm and left a bleeding gash on his hand. When James turned back to Severus and said he was going for it, Severus had no time at all to protest before James was crawled out from under the roots and faced the tree with his wand ready. Severus took out his wand and prepared to dart out of the tree to help James but the tree had other plans. Immediately the tree flailed and a branch came crashing down onto James, shattering his wand. Now Severus could only watch in amazement and horror as James clung to the branch and be lifted into the air before the tree shook with such a violent force he was flung from the branch and landed on the ground with a sickening thump. James wasn't moving and the tree was gearing up for more blows.

Severus took a deep breath, quickly crawled out from under the roots, and fumbled for the knot on the trunk to freeze the tree. The fumbling gave the tree a chance to give a couple of blows to James before turning to Severus and trying to get him away from the trunk. A branch blindsided Severus and left a cut across his cheek while another hit from the opposite direction knocking the wind out of him. It was with that blow he was able to find the knot and press it to freeze the tree.

Struggling to catch his breath, Severus pocketed his wand and rushed over to James, trying to shake him awake. "James?! Bloody hell, wake up. Can you hear me? Fucking hell." Severus made sure that James was in fact breathing, just unconscious, then looked around for a sign of life anywhere. Then he heard another howl coming from the tunnel. He needed to move, and he needed to move fast. Severus didn't want to hurt James any more than was already done, but Madame Pomfrey will be able to fix him, right?

Severus pulled James to a kneeling position and then flung one of James' arms over his shoulder trying to stand under the dead weight of the unconscious boy. Severus struggled and buckled under the weight but he slowly pressed on toward the castle, half dragging James. Tears were streaming down Severus' face when he reached the steps of the castle; part from the struggle of carrying another human being, part from fear for the boy's life. He heard another howl as he pushed open the castle door and dragged James inside, making sure the door was secure behind them. At this time of night there was bound to be no one roaming the corridors and Severus set James on a bench just inside the door. Making it up all of the stairs to the Hospital Wing was a feat Severus couldn't do on his own. Against his better judgment but pressed for time he pulled out his wand, pointed it at James, and muttered "Levicorpus."

James' body rose a few feet off the ground and Severus directed the body in front of him and up the stairs. At each landing he paused to make sure no Prefects were doing patrols and with all of the luck a vial of Felix Felicis could bring, he found himself in front of the Hospital Wing doors. Severus gently brought James to the floor and resumed the position of helping him stand while he pushed open the door.

"Madame Pomfrey! Help!"

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